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Phosphor electroluminescence (EL) was discovered and documented by G. Destriau in 1936. However, it was not until the 1950s that GTE Sylvania received a patent for an EL powder lamp. Short lifetimes of only 500 hours limited the use of these devices.
Work carried out in the 1980’s revitalised the powder EL lamp and in 1990 the Durel Corporation demonstrated a flexible EL phosphor device that was incorporated into an LCD flat panel display as a backlight. The manufacturing technique involved encapsulating the phosphor powder particles in an oxide coating and sandwiching the phosphor powder held in a dielectric matrix between two electrodes. The device used an ac voltage to stimulate light emission, and made the thick film phosphor lamp a commercial reality.
In 2000, Durel and Osram Sylvania, who had been marketing EL, entered into litigation over the phosphor particle tin oxide encapsulation process, upon which Durel had a patent. In late 2001, Osram and Durel came to a cross licensing agreement assuring the future supply of EL phosphor. Currently both tin oxide and nitride encapsulated powder products are available on the open market.
In 1997 a team of engineers, working in Cambridge (UK) began work on the development of a multi-segment display using the phosphor lamp technology, marking the birth of pSEL™
In 2001, patented pSEL™ display technology was ready for commercialisation and the Cambridge team was acquired by ELumin, the UK's largest EL lamp manufacturer.
Renamed Pelikon, the company has grown rapidly, shipping high volumes of pSEL™ Intuitive Touch Displays for the consumer durables market.
Since 2002, Pelikon have become world leaders in the design and manufacture of pSEL™ Intuitive Touch Displays, pSEL™ Backlites and Animated Backlites along with the driver and control products to optimise the performance of these displays.
Continual investment is made in new materials and research to increase the quality, performance and functionality of pSEL™ display products and technology.
